Moon Ice
by Silverbulletsdeath
Summary: This is the truth about Abbey's past. About how she came to be transferred to Monster High, her relationship with her family and tribe, and how tragedy shaped her into the yeti she is today. Warnings inside.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: So Gana is Abbey. Obliviously I've taken liberties with the story, and this world is a little more monstrous than the monster high version. But I tried to keep as close to the facts as I could. Also, I will try to finish this without starting anything new. It's coming to the end, but I have such a small attention span.

Warnings: exile, violence, banishment, disownment, abuse (in the punishment) that results scars, prejudice. That's all I can think of now.

Chapter One

The Trial

Gana smiled and held herself straight and strong as her uncle lifted her into the air. A cheer that ripped through the war hall built on the mountain top. The cheer signaled the beginning of the celebration. The cheer only lasted a moment, but it echoed in the hall even as the musicians began to beat their drums. In most cases, cheering was a waste of breath and would be frowned upon, but this was a special occasion. Tomorrow was Gana's fifteenth birthday. In the morning she would be sent down the mountain to complete her final trial and become a warrior of the tribe. The celebration commemorated and celebrated the fact she had lived long enough to become a part of the tribe. As a yeti, Gana had trained her entire life for this coming of age trial.

Abbey smiled and threw her power over the cold and snow into the mix as her people threw her into the air, she couldn't help but feel apprehension along with excitement at the prospect of her trial. Tomorrow was a big day: her first day as a true warrior and yeti. Even if she died during her trial, she would be demonstrating her resolve to support and be an integral part of her tribe as a warrior, and Gana was a good warrior. She had adapted well what was taught. She wasn't a conventional warrior; perhaps since her small stature meant she was agile instead of powerful, but she had adopted and learned well from hunting, sparing, and training under her master. Gana's master was proud of Gana's abilities. The old warrior expressing that she believed Gana would pass her trail and retrieve the head of the enemy the small yeti kill with ease.

A small blizzard had begun to build in the war hall as Gana was set back on her own two feet. Gana straightened her hair, as she recovered. Her hair was uncommonly long; reaching a finger's length past her shoulders, but the small yeti couldn't help but admire it. Her hair wasn't just the normal white and gray color. While the foundation of her hair was white, and she had only seen natural highlights and strands of colors she had only painted in the sky when the sun was rising from under the world in the early morning. Gana's mother said the small yeti's hair looked like the snow on a perfect sunrise. Still, to keep the length so long was silly and vain, a weakness that Gana shouldn't indulge in. Gana shrugged those thoughts aside and consoled herself regularly by noting that every yeti had some hobby or vanity that was seen as a weakness by the traditions of the tribe.

Gana created an ice pillar to lift her up to everyone else's height so she could have a proper look around. She easily found in the crowd her father signing and laughing with her master and other old warriors. Her father caught her eyes and, beaming proudly, he headed her way. As a path opened between them, Gana saw her father held an elongated, ceremonial knife in his hand. It was old Bonebreaker. Of course, Bonebreaker was the size of a sword to Gana, but it would serve her well when it came time to remove the head of the enemy she killed. It was the knife both her parents had used to cut the head off of their enemy to present offering at the end of their trial and it had been past down to the first born of her bloodline for many generations.

Gana felt herself tearing up. Her older brother should have received this knife. Gana should be gifted the knife of one of the males who wished to join with her in strengthening the numbers of their tribe. But her brother was gone. The enemy had killed him four years ago, cutting his life short before he even had a chance to take his trial. The day her brother died so had most a generation. That day he and other yetis close to their trial had been taken by an experienced warrior on a hunt to help them hone their skills as future warriors. Instead they had been ambushed by the enemy and every one of them slaughtered.

Gana received Bonebreaker from her father with a bow. Bonebreaker felt right in her hands. She would give this to her future husband when he came of age to face his trial, but for now Bonebreaker would serve her as she killed her first enemy and started her quest to avenge her fallen tribesmen. Gana placed Bonebreaker in the sheath at her hip. As tradition dictated, once handed the knife, Gana took on the responsibility of protecting and continuing the survival of her tribe. Her people.

The small yeti looked around the room. Snow fell all around the giant ice cavern. Some yetis lifted their faces to the sky, sharp blue features raised toward the icy ceiling as they paved their own power into building the storm.

Gana jumped, her attention stolen from the storm as her fingers instinctively dug into the hand that had tried to remove Bonebreaker from her belt. The small yeti turned to confront the thief and came chest to face with her oldest friend, Pyry. Pyry was a true beauty. The yeti had a rounded face and skin more white than blue. Even for a yeti she was tall, with rippling muscles, and almost fully developed figure. The big yeti had a taste for the mischief that made her red eyes sparkle and look like she was always laughing.

Gana rolled her eyes when she looked up to see her friend pouting.

"No," Gana said reinforcing the command by hitting the side of one hand against the palm of her other while she tried to look disappointed at her antics. Then Gana broke out into silent laughter as Pyry pretended to be broken hearted. Really, Pyry had already given her knife to the yeti closest her age. Gana had to wait two years before she could give her knife to the next one and Gana wasn't sure how she felt about him. There was a chance she would be waiting an extra year. For one thing, that meant another male, with a more humorous personality came of age, and also waiting the extra year guaranteed Gana more time to spend in fighting the enemy and not wasting her best years birthing babies. The tribe was no longer low on tribesmen. No more than usual anyway. While the death of so many had hurt their numbers, her tribe was used to the loss in this never ending war. Couples, like her parents, had been expected to provide another child. So while the tribe's numbers for battle were low, there was a large group of children currently beginning their training.

Pyry led Gana over to there dance floor. Gana quickly gripping Pyry tightly so she wouldn't get lost in the press of bodies. Gana smiled and allowed the Pyry to kiss her on each cheek playfully as they twirled. Pyry and her were expected to be battle sisters since they would be the youngest females of age and were good friends. Gana had no problem with their assumption. Pyry was her friend and confidant. Gana missed the nights she had spent curled next to the other yeti signing and sharing the cold after Pyry passed her trial and moved to sleep with the other warriors. Gana loved Pyry as she loved the rest of her family. Gana honestly felt proud that she would soon be joining with Pyry as a battle sister. Pyry had a reputation as a fierce and honorable warrior with a cool head and a sharp mind for tactics.

The beating of the drums slowly stopped, and a new song began with some sort of string instrument. Gana smiled at Pyry, even as she grew impatient for the celebration to end and her trial to begin. After she completed her trial and became a warrior, it wouldn't be long until she would head out in the next hunting group to gather food and potentially sabotage any bases the enemies had begun to setup in her tribe's territory. The tribe had been looking forward to Gana coming of age. A small yeti was considered a sign from the ancestors that some great change was on the horizon. The blood in her veins ran cold excitement at the thought of her trial. Finally she would prove her worth and her people would flourish. Finally Gana would shed enemy blood. Sure, Gana had killed animals before, mountain lions and wild boars that wandered too high up the mountain, but this trial would be a true test of her ability as a warrior against an enemy with as much wits and guile as her people.

Gana smiled and broke away from her dance with Pyry once she saw that the day was beginning darken. Gana glanced out the window. It looked like she would get a good view of the stars that night as she held vigil. She was ready. She'd gone through her last yearly trial just a week ago, and during that time, she'd acquired many pelts as she spent the week alone, living off the land and hunting wild creatures with roughly crafted weapons and ice. With the help of her master and father, she'd been able to fashion a decent set of armor from the pelts she'd dragged back. Gana especially liked the fur lining she'd put on the collar, cuffs, and top of her boots. She'd made some excuse at the time why she needed them, but in truth, she just liked the way the lining looked. Still, the hide was strong, and the ice reinforcement had been helpfully critiqued by her battle master to create a strong armor for her trial.

Gana's parents found her only a moment later and led Gana up the stairs to the roof of the war hall. The small yeti felt her heart clench for a moment as she ascended. She had on a date here once. The elders might have chosen him as her future mate, but Gana had liked the yeti well enough. He had been straight forward, a little self conscious about his lack of hair, and a bit of a klutz. Gana had thought he was adorable. Maybe she'd been a bit young to really fall in love, but most yetis started dating around ten, especially younger siblings who had to receive a weapon from an older tribesman, and it was good she felt an instant affection for the male yeti. Gana had been sure the elders had chosen the perfect mate for her. Unfortunately he'd been killed in the same ambush as her brother.

No, Gana would not think about that. Not now. Now was the time to concentrate on the future. Gana would have a new mate in the younger group of yetis that were coming of age at the end of the year. And while she waited for him to mature, she would have more time before she was expected to give two new members to the tribe. Personally, she wasn't looking forward to being pregnant. For four months she and her mate would be expected to remain solely within the boundaries of their village, delegated lowly jobs, and would have to spend every waking moment together.

Gana shook her head. She needed to fight. She needed the excitement of battle, and to test her skills against something powerful, preferably something with plenty of muscles and teeth so she could feel the thrill of dancing so close to death so that victory over a worthy opponent would be that much sweeter. Just the thought of that moment before a fight began, chilled Gana's blood and made her wish the night was over so she could engage the enemy sooner rather than later.

Gana was ready. She'd learned well how to fight, how to throw herself at the enemy, how to back off when the moment called for it, how keeping fighting even after a grievous wound. Gana knew how to kill: knew the feeling when her blade sunk into the beast's body, the sound of cracking of bones and ripping muscle. She knew the feeling of a fatal blow, how blood was always so hot in warm creatures. The feel of it as it splashed of her body, like fire droplets against her skin. Beautiful. Warm creatures had such beautiful blood, so dark and thick with color. Even its warmth was captivating. Gana couldn't imagine how anything could live with something so hot inside them. Gana had often caught herself watching as the deep red blood of a recent kill flooded across the white snow, drenching it and then melting and mixing as it settled in and stained the landscape.

When Gana had reached the top and stepped onto the roof, her parents left her, and she walked to the middle of the circle made by the elders. The elders then clapped their hands, quickly setting a rhythm, and the storm below seemed to grow stronger. Gana fell to her knees, bending her head for a few beats and then raising it and her hands toward the shinning moon. Then the elders started to dance. It was a slow, methodical set of movements that created music by stamping and clapping of the dance itself. There was no song or battle cry to go with it; they were so high up it was hard for any yeti to breathe.

Gana knew the dance by heart. All children learned it in hopes that they would live to be an elder. Yes, dying in battle was honorable, but they had been losing so many yetis lately that it seemed they were close to extinction. The yeti tribes the tribe used to be able to turn to for help defending yeti territory from foreign invaders had turned traitor. It had made some sort of treaty with the enemy. Now Gana's tribe no longer fought the enemy on that side of the mountain in fear the yetis on that side would have no problem following them up and slaughtering their tribe while it was weak. Whenever elders spoke of the past they would spit when they talked about how the other tribes had lost all honor by siding with the enemies and would reminisce fondly about when a yeti and her partner would choose whether they had children to give to the crippled to raise. Now mates had to produce at least two yetis within a certain timeframe after being united. In some instances the tribe selected yetis to have additional children.

Gana brought her focus back to the dance. She was supposed to reflect on the ancestors and how she would serve the tribe from then on. The dance of the elders called upon their ancestors. It was meant to fill the yeti performing her trial with the knowledge needed to take the enemy alone and bring back its head.

Gana could feel the cold rays of the moon filling her with her peoples' knowledge and strength. She hardly noticed when the elders take their leave. Gana spent the night in prayer, reflecting on the battle ahead. In the future she would be invaluable to her people: her small stature a gift in many circumstances. Plus, while she was small, she had more control and power over the cold and ice than her fellow tribesmen.

Gana's master had once told her that those of her stature had once been looked down upon, many thrown from the mountain top or left to die after birth. But then a male had been born of small size. Like most, he had been left to die, but an old cripple with a big heart and strong connection to the ancestors had taken the small yeti under his wing. Years later, a rival tribe had attacked the village, decimating her tribe's number in a surprise attack. The biggest, toughest warriors had been killed first, and when all seemed lost, the little one had pretended to change sides. The rest of the story was a lesson on how even what was usually considered cowardly tactics were essential in times of great need. Within days of his 'deflection', the small yeti had broken his fellow tribesmen from their captivity and sabotage the other tribe from the inside out. Now when a small yeti was born to the tribe they were trained and treated with respect. Some yetis had still mocked Gana when they thought they wouldn't be overheard, but mostly Gana felt the pressure that she needed to do something great. Gana k new she could be a great warrior, the fact she was a gift from their ancestors and a sign of great change meant she felt she needed to be more than a warrior to her tribe.

Still, she believed with the rest that great change would happen now that she was a warrior. Gana at least would even the playing field. Through the years, the enemy had encroached on their land, driving them further up the mountain as the enemies' methods of attack became trickier and more cowardly. Gana would see to it that the enemy tasted bitter and devastating defeat. She would take their sons and daughters away from them as they had stolen theirs, and she would cheer as the enemies' blood spilled on the snow, turning the white landscape red. She would break their weapons and cover their homes and fields in thick ice. The enemy would soon be nothing. Their presence just a memory. Her tribe would be feared again and rule the Himalayas as they had over a thousand years ago.

As the sun began to rise, so did Gana. Now was her time to face the enemy. She headed down the stairs to collect the rest of her gear and start her journey down the mountain to where the enemy had raised their wall. As she did so, she realized this might be the last time she saw her village. Tradition dictated that she came back with the head of her enemy, or she died fighting. That was the way of the yeti. A true yeti didn't fear battle or death. Life was a battle, and only those willing to risk their lives and fight for the tribe deserved to live.

Gana had known a few yetis, through the years, that never returned after they left to complete their trial. Sometimes their body was found, and they were given a proper burial; most of the time, however, it seemed as if they had simply disappeared and become one with the mountain and ice. So was the way of things. Gana had sometimes heard that in the old days their enemies would put the heads of yetis who failed their trial on spikes to taunt their tribesmen. Of course, the yetis saw this as a challenge, and a bloody battle would be waged. But the practice had ended a few years ago. Apparently they thought her tribe wasn't worth the trouble. The cowards must feel they were safe behind their great wall with Gana's tribe forced to retreat to the very top of the mountain.

Gana would show them. She'd take pleasure in seeing their expressions as she gutted them with her spear and removed their heads with Bonebreaker before life had left their eyes. Soon that head would be the trophy she presented to her people.

Her old master smiled grimly at Gana as the small yeti entered the armory. The old warrior had been crippled many years ago, but she had once been a fierce fighter. It had been said Gana's master had lost her eye and leg taking on one hundred enemies while protecting her fallen battle sister. Gana's parents had specifically asked for Gana to be trained by the old warrior. While Gana's master might not have been the best choice since the old yeti was crippled and her style of fighting was much to direct and ham-fisted for Gana to directly mimic and use effectively. Gana was able to work with her master and develop a style of fighting that complimented and even worked against both small and large opponents.

Gana's master inspected the small yeti's armor one last time. Finally the old yeti nodded and grunted, pointing for Gana to choose her weapon. Gana hesitated only a second before she headed to select a spear. It was her preferred weapon, which most other yetis didn't understand. Gana could use them effectively against yetis, but she hesitated because the enemy was the same size as her, or so she'd been told, and she wasn't sure how she'd adjust to a small intelligent warrior. It might have been better to use a weapon she could use easily in close combat, but Gana still had Bonebreaker, and the ceremonial knife could be used as a common weapon. She replaced it and tested a couple more until she found the one with a sharp edge and perfect balance. Her trainer looked her choice over and then handed it back, a sharp smile on her features as she gave Gana one last slap on the shoulder.

Gana left then, heading out the village, spear in hand and pride in her heart. As she left, pushing through the ice wall that surrounded her village, she couldn't help but glance back one last time at her home. She would no longer be a child when she returned. She would be a warrior

Someone poked her on the shoulder, and Gana jumped in surprise. Then she wasted breath sighing when she realized it was only Pyry. The obnoxious yeti was doubled over in laughter, taking in deep breaths and making Gana question if she really wanted the silly yeti to be her battle sister. So Gana pocked at Pyry with the butt of her spear. Pyry stood to her full height while rolling her eyes. Gana put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow as she craned her neck back to properly glare at her friend. The small yeti waited for Pyry to explain what she was doing. Only trainers were supposed to see a yeti on the day of her trial.

Pyry took out a necklace from behind her back and presented it to Gana. It was beautiful, the charms at were three blue stones, the biggest one in the middle in the shape of a diamond. Gana hesitated as she reached out to take the gift. The blue stones gave off their own strange power. Pyry smiled and pulled the necklace away so she could clasp it around Gana's neck. The necklace fit Gana perfectly, hanging around her neck so that it was almost a choker. Gana touched the jewels and gasped. She had thought the necklace made of ice or stones meant to mimic moon ice, but these were the real things. Moon ice was precious to her people. It was a stone found in old crevices of the mountain and difficult to come by. It was said a yeti could spend their whole lives gathering and cracking boulders looking for the precious jewels and never even find a hint of blue dust. Usually only yetis of great standing received any moon ice and then the stones were only worn for ceremonial reasons. Gana felt tears freezing at the side of her eyes, and she threw herself forward and up to clasp her friend in a tight hug.

"Come back," whispered Pyry, placing her hand over Gana's heart. Gana smiled and nodded. She would do her best to return to the tribe.

Gana could feel a natural snowstorm building on the other side of the mountain. She was tempted to go that way; it was where her tribe usually focused their attacks.

The blizzard would offer her power even after she had moved further down the mountain. Gana lifted her hood and adjusted her armor so that only her eyes showed out into the world. The enemy existed further down the mountain. They couldn't survive the harsh weather up at the top of the mountain, which was probably the only reason they had not attacked and decimated Gana's tribe yet. As Gana started her journey, it didn't seem long before Gana had traveled far enough down the mountain that the snowstorm was only a little buzz in her bones, and she started feeling the sluggish effects of the warmer weather. It was summer after all. Summer was a horrible season to be born. The weather even close to the top of the mountain could get too hot and the sun shine too long in the sky. Gana could feel the ancestors' gift of strength and knowledge slowly slipping away as her concentration went to keeping her body cool. It was a good thing she wasn't expected to attack a village. Instead, she would wait to engage an enemy that foolishly wandered from the safety of its people and home. Hopefully one would be prideful and stupid enough to stray up the mountain and into yeti territory either by himself or in a small group.

As the day dragged on, Gana was afraid she would never even see even the great wall she had heard they built. She could feel the heat sinking into her skin and was grateful for the ice that insulated her armor. She made certain to concentrate and continue to keep the ice frozen though it stole from her strength.

The sun had already begun its decent behind the mountain when Gana decided to make camp. It was clear she would not see any enemies that day and she knew them to be daytime creatures. Gana found a cool place to lie for the night, and built up the snow around her to obscure her from any predators that might try to attack while she was asleep and help rejuvenate her from heat.

When Gana woke the next day, she quickly packed some snow against her skin. She needed to keep cool and the snow on the ground had become patchy in areas. Gana was sure that soon there would be no snow at all. The cold was her element, without it she would become sluggish both in mind and body. The small yeti bundled herself up, trying to capture as much of the cold air close to her skin as she could, remembering some tricks her master and parents had taught her to do when she was forced to fight heat as bad as this.

It turned out Gana where she had settled down for the night wasn't far from a village. Gana took time to hunker down and just observe what she could of the enemies' layout. Her tribesmen hadn't been exaggerating when they told her how high the wall the enemy had built was on this side of the mountain. As she continued to observe, she soon realized there were people on the top of the wall with sticks strapped to their back and who patrolled and looked out in her direction as if waiting for her tribe to attack. Gana guessed the sticks strapped to the enemies' back were the kind her trainer said exploded and shot out a small ball of metal that ripped into a yeti's body, potentially killing you if it was aimed at the right place. The sticks were a coward's weapon, but the enemies were cowards, so their sticks suited them.

Gana drew back into the brushes. She would look around, further back from the wall. There was bound to be someone outside the town, scavenging, hunting, or taking their animals out to graze. Gana would find her prize soon enough. She drifted for a while in the bushes and shadows, looking out and not daring to get too close to the wall, or go too far into the open. The sun went past the midpoint, but Gana waited. Her prey would come as long as she was patient.

And then she saw him. He was wearing a light jacket and had one of those exploding sticks strapped to his back. Gana still didn't quite understand how the stick could hurt her. She had seen a wound created by one when she had been taken to learn basic healing, but she still didn't understand how a stick could cause a little piece of metal to get lodged inside her. The stick didn't appear to be supporting a sling of any kind, and even if there was one, Gana wasn't sure how it could be made to throw the little metal ball so fast. Actually, now that Gana was close to the enemy, she couldn't help but notice how incredibly short he was. It was one thing to be told that a creature that walked on two feet was her height, and another to see it.

Gana shifted her grip on her spear. She kept close to the ground; the enemy didn't seem to realize that she was stalking him. Good, he wouldn't know what hit him until it was too late. The seconds seem to stretch by, Gana waited for just the right moment, and then she charged. The enemy turned, and Gana smiled. She wasn't truly trying to be sneaky after all. The enemy needed to be engaged face to face. That was the way of the trial.

He fumbled for his stick, and Gana easily knocked it to the side. He twisted, moving his body enough so that her spear missed running him through, but in a second Gana had shifted her weight, let go of her spear, and tossed the enemy over and onto his back. He gasped for air before twisting again, Gana's Bonebreaker digging into the ground where he used to be and catching his jacket. The enemy then struck up with his arm, and only years of practice had Gana dodging in time as the blade clutched in his hand would have sliced open her throat. The mask was only leather now since the ice had melted away.

Gana rolled off him, and she pulled her spear from the earth. He rolled onto his feet and took a wide stance as he faced her. The enemy was already breathing hard. He showed some sign of training in fighting, though she could tell he'd never been on the battle field before, probably because he was her age. Gana was sure he was, the only real physical difference between them seemed to be the color of their skin, and that she was more powerful then him.

Gana hardened her heart. The enemy had to die and killing him should be no different than killing a mountain giant that had been touched by madness. If he was as old as her then he had no excuse being a weaker warrior than her. Gana shifted the spear in her hand and ran to build up speed for another attack. The male held his weapons awkwardly and was able to dodge the tip of her spear again. Gana let her momentum carry her forward before she pivoted, twisting the spear so it tripped him and knocking the boy to the ground. In doing so, she easily disarmed him and gained the upper hand. A few well placed elbows and knees had him gasping on the ground with her on top of him. He tried to knock her off, but he was weak, and she hit his head with the butt of her spear before winding him.

The enemy was at her mercy. Gana smiled and adjusted so she was pinning him to the ground, making it impossible for him to move, without using her hands. She then slid Bonebreaker out of its scabbard and pushed his neck so it was bared to her. She pulled back to deliver the blow and met the boy's eyes.

"Please," he whispered, tears leaking from his eyes. His struggles were feeble, and Gana knew she shouldn't care. Not for his life or the fact he was weak. She'd killed plenty of times, and many creatures had been more docile and their cries more pathetic than his. Killing him should be easy; by killing him she continued to ensure the survival of her tribe. This boy and his ancestors had killed and hunted her kind since they'd invaded her tribe's mountains.

Gana adjusted her grip on Bonebreaker and placed the edge of the blade on the enemies' neck. She still couldn't seem to be able to force her body to make that last fatal cut. Besides his skin color and small size, he looked so much like a yeti. Mountain giants resembled hairy yetis, and Gana had felt no remorse killing one she had befriended after he fell into blood fever. Gana told herself this, repeating it back in her mind as she looked into the enemy's eyes, her hand was staid. He wanted to live. He probably hadn't come out in search of yetis, the stick Gana had thrown away so easily was meant probably for protection. He was so weak. The fact he was weak should have disgusted Gana and made it easier for her to kill him, instead it somehow made it impossible for her to deliver the killing blow.

Gana found her will weakening as she looked into her enemies' eyes. She shouldn't care for his life. Yet as she looked down on him, she could feel the bloodlust that had been pounding through her veins fading away. She didn't understand why it was so hard to kill him. He was the enemy. In a day or two, if she let him go, he could come up the mountain in a raid to decimate her tribe. So why couldn't she kill him? She growled and finally was able to press pushing Bonebreaker's blade against and apply enough pressure to draw a trickle of blood. The boy's eyes closed and he looked away from her. Gana could feel his body trembling in fear.

So easy. She was so close to killing him. As soon as she presented his head, she would have proven her worth. With his head in her hand she would finish her trial and become a warrior of her tribe. Without his head in her hands when she returned, without the head of an enemy, she was worthless. By the laws of her tribe, she would be killed.

Blood. Beautiful red blood on snow.

But there was no snow. It was too warm for snow so far down the mountain.

The boy started crying. Gana looked up at his face to see tears streaming freely down his face and mixing with snot. Gana didn't understand. This was contemptible. The enemy was contemptible. He was crying. Warriors didn't cry at the thought of their death. He wasn't a warrior.

He deserved death. His whole cowardly race deserved death.

Gana stood, slipping Bonebreaker back into its sheath. She then turned her back to the enemy, going to retrieve her spear from where she dropped it. Gana had been defeated. That was the only thing she knew for certain. Even though she had been more powerful, had him pinned to the ground and at her mercy, he had won because she didn't have the stomach to kill him. Gana was not a true yeti. She was weak, pathetic, and deserving of death. What use was she if she couldn't kill the enemy?

As the small yeti turned to head back to her tribe and her fate, she was only half aware of the boy getting up behind her. Finally he seemed to get his bearings, and, screaming, he charged her. Gana was tempted to allow him to kill her. After all, she was a dead already. But to let such a weakling kill her was completely against her nature. Instead she sidestepped his clumsy attempt and jammed her elbow into his solar plexus. He went down hard and gasping. She rolled her eyes, walked over a few paces, picked up his stick, and threw it at him. If he was going to kill her, it might as well be with a weapon he was good at, even if it was a coward's weapon.

But no explosion went off, and Gana didn't feel the bite of metal. Maybe she had knocked him against the ground a little too hard. Too bad, Gana had a feeling that soon she would be wishing he'd killed her. Absently, Gana checked behind her. He was sitting there, staring at her; stick clutched awkwardly in his arms. The small yeti wondered what kept him from killing her now. Did he have the same problem killing her as she had killing him? Or was he just too cowardly to take her on himself now and was going to muster a small army from the nearby village?

Gana let her head fall back and sent a prayer to the ancestors asking them to keep her tribe safe.


	2. Honor

Chapter Two

Honor

The walk back to the top of the mountain was long, and Gana ended up setting up camp for a night. After gathering a good sized snow pile, she found some wood so she could build a small fire. In ancient tradition, fires were built during hard times to represent the difficulty of overcoming obstacles and act as a medium to send the tribes' prayers to their ancestors. Gana knew she had no business asking anything of her ancestors, but she prayed to them that they might give her guidance anyway. She was desperate and afraid she could no longer trust herself to do the right and honorable thing.

Gana would not run from her fate. She had failed her tribe, and as she must face whatever punishment the elders decided to bestow on her. The truth of this formed and solidified as she prayed. For comfort Gana rested her hand on her necklace. Then the small yeti slowly reached her hand back and unclasped the gift, letting the necklace fall into her other hand. The moon ice caught the light of the fire, little reflections of light from the fire flew from inside the stone, scattering in all directions across Gana and the snow. Gana did not deserve this gift, and yet, the evil that was in her heart did not want to let Pyry rip it from her neck. The thought of her friend giving the necklace to some other battle maiden made a killing fire of jealousy well within Gana's heart.

A sob tried to escape Gana, but she choked it back. Now she was acting as deplorably as the enemy had. How low was she to let tears and sadness overtake her? Tears of joy were one thing, but she disgraced herself and her people by crying over something that was entirely her own fault. Maybe she was evil. Maybe there was something wrong with her. Well, obviously there was something wrong with her. Gana hadn't been able to kill the enemy and take revenge for all the lives, land, and resources he and his people had taken from her tribe. But why? Why when she looked at the enemy under her blade had she stayed her hand and not simply slit his throat? She'd killed animals before, and that was just for food. She hadn't hated the animals she hunted.

The enemy had killed her brother and future partner. They had hurt her personally. It wasn't just about avenging her tribe. She knew in her heart that killing them was the right thing to do. The only way to survive. By her hesitation and inability to destroy that threat, she had proven herself to be nothing but a failure and a traitor.

Gana looked down at the necklace resting in her hand one last time before she chucked it into the fire.

-A-B-B-E-Y-B-O-M-I-N-A-B-L-E-

The day burned bright the next morning. Gana forced herself to get up, brushing the snow from her clothes. Night fell again before she reached her village, but her feet were dragging and she was afraid that if she stopped she wouldn't be able to do the honorable thing and face her fate.

The sun was just rising when she arrived at her village. A couple of yetis guarding the entrance saw her coming and at first stared at her in confusion, but it wasn't long before their expressions turned distant and hard. A group of guards quickly formed and flanked her. They were probably making sure the small yeti didn't try to run from her punishment. Gana wasn't planning on running. Why would she come back if she planned on trying to escape justice? No, Gana would not run from her fate, even though by yeti laws her punishment would end in her death. No, she had expected this and at this point found that she welcomed death. What use was a warrior that couldn't fight? That couldn't kill?

By the time she had was escorted to the meeting area, it seemed as if the entire tribe had gathered to see her punishment. All the elders stood before her, though Gana knew they all had regular duties in the morning. Gana wasn't able to meet their eyes, instead she stared at the ground under her feet, wishing she'd removed her coif so she could cover her face with her hair. The yetis flanking her threw her to the ground when they got a couple of feet from the elders. Gana ended up sprawled a couple of inches from the elders' feet the pictures carved under her fingers reminding her of how much of a failure she was. She moved slowly, head bent until she was sitting on her knees.

The trial didn't last long. It wasn't much of a trial anyway. It was obvious what had happened… well, what hadn't happened. No breath was wasted debating or questioning her. Gana kept her head down the entire time, so she didn't see any of the signs used to declare her guilty. The way time seemed to drag was probably more in her head than reality. The decision was easy. The trainers had always told stories about the importance of the trial and described to their apprentices in detail what happened to the traitors who came back from their trial without the head of the enemy.

Gana wondered briefly what the reactions of the individuals in her tribe were, especially that of her parents, Pyry's, and her trainers. But she was too much of a coward to dare to look up and find them in the crowd. Some part of her wondered what she was afraid of. She had already proven that she was a coward when she didn't kill the enemy. She might as well face the judgment of those she loved the most. She deserved it, and yet, her mind eagerly supplied what their expressions probably were, and that was bad enough. Gana's head stayed bent.

When the room had emptied of everyone but the elders, she felt the vibe of room change from one of predetermined deliberation to action. There was a moment where Gana tried to brace herself mentally and physically for her punishment. She was even able to keep from flinching when they removed her spear and Bonebreaker. And then the first blow fell on Gana's back and knocked the air from her lungs. Gana tried not to scream or even gasp too deeply. She would not waste everyone else's breath in her last minutes.

Someone kicked her head. Gana tried to remind herself not to move, to just endure; she had no right to fight back. Pain coursed through her body as someone cracked her ribs. Another foot seemed to dig into her stomach, and she swore she heard a leg break. She fought back instinctively, her teeth sinking into leather boots only briefly before she remembered her place the foot dug into her mouth as she released them and she curled in a ball as the beating continued. Soon the beating lost its ferocity, but even then it seemed to go on forever, hands and feet taking turns kicking her across the floor and grinding into her body. Every inch of her was alight in pain, and every bone felt like it had been broken twice over. Still, they hadn't brought steal out to break her skin or stripped her to perform more perverse punishments that would drag her agony out for days or even months. In times of desperation, not even the fear of what a child born of a traitor would grow up to be suspended the duty of the traitor to supply the tribe with a child.

Maybe Gana would be lucky. Perhaps after this beating they would slit her throat or lead her to plummet from the cliff face and be done with her. Gana tried to hold back the tears that tried to escape; it was bad enough that she didn't have the strength to meet their eyes. She shouldn't have been born. It was clear that she was the pathetic sort of small yeti. Gana was nothing but a blight on her people, and stronger small yetis born to the tribe would face discrimination because of her. She should have been born when small yetis were left to die once born.

The elders pulled back on her coif so she was forced to look up. She met the disappointed, furious expression of her father. She couldn't face him, and she closed her eyes in shame. Someone spat on her, and she ignored it. She couldn't feel it through her armor anyway, and someone was lifting her chin as if to bare her neck. Death was upon her, she just knew it. And then a needle pierced through the skin of her lower lip. Gana tried to jerk back instinctively, but the elder held her chin firmly in place, muttering something about her no longer talking and wasting air. The pain became unbearable as the needle threaded and pierced from her lower lip to upper lip and then back down again. The beating had been like aches acquired from easy training session compared to the continuous assault of sharp pain digging through her lips and the slip of leather through the holes the needle made as the thick thread ran through each newly pierced piece of flesh as the elder sewed her mouth shut.

As her mouth was sewn shut, her arms had been held to the side. After they tied off the thread on her lips, they slipped her gloves from her hands. She felt breath catch in her throat, but she tried to push back her fear as blood filled her mouth. Gana felt the need for some dignity at the end. She didn't want to be remembered only as a failure. She would take this, all of it, and bare it the best she could. She owed her tribe that much at least.

Gana's mother held her daughter's hands against the ground, palms up. Gana felt the urge to confess to her, and all of them, why she had betrayed them. She wanted to tell them why she had looked the enemy in the eyes and been unable to kill him. But the truth was that she didn't know why she had frozen when so close to accomplishing her task. Plus, what would it matter anyway? The bottom line was that she hadn't killed him. Wasn't that the only thing that mattered in the end?

Gana flinched as Bonebreaker was pressed next to her thumb. She bit her lips as well as she could, her bottom tusks sinking into her lips and the thread pulling the fresh wounds as Bonebreaker's blade dragged diagonally across her palm: thumb to pinky, pointer to wrist. Blue blood welled from the deep wounds; soon the thick liquid ran too fast and froze on the ground. Bonebreaker then moved and etched the same two lines across her other hand. Gana stared at her hands in confusion. Why were they doing this? What did x's on her palms even mean? There hadn't been any stories where traitors were branded with these types of scars.

The yetis flanking Gana then picked her up and drag her away. Gana let her head loll from side to side. She tried to stand and stumble along, but ended up being dragged out of the meeting area and through the village, as her legs were too weak to hold her. Instead Gana concentrated on breathing with cracked and broken ribs through a broken nose and sewn mouth filled with blood. Pain made her dizzy, and even if Gana wanted to lift her head to see her home one last time before she was thrown from the cliff, she couldn't see through the blur of pain that weakened her eyes.

And then the small yeti was thrown. Peace filled her mind and soul for a second as she finally found relief. Soon she would no longer burn with pain and regret.

Except, instead of falling, wind whistling through her body and gravity pulling her faster and faster until she crashed to the ground in a broken heap for predators to find and make a feast of, she landed hardly a second later on hard ice. Her arms buckled and shook as she sat up, wincing again as pain from the beating flooded her body.

She fell back to the ground, gasping.

"And as such we condemn you to exile." Gana felt as if her body had turned to immovable ice for a moment before she turned to confront the elders on what he meant, but the doors to her old home were already closed to her. The guards glared at her, daring her to try and get back into the village. Gana just stared at them dumbly. She couldn't be exiled, that wasn't the punishment for those who came back without the head of the enemy. No. Exile… exile was ten times worse. The elders, her parent, they were the ones being cowards. Why couldn't they just have killed her? What stopped them from doing their duty and killing her?

The guards growled at her, their hands gripping their weapons. Gana realized she must have moved toward them in her panic. Gana just continued stare at them. What use would it be to attack them? The thought crossed her mind that they might kill her, but then, they would have done that already if that had been the elders' intent. No, they probably wouldn't kill her, just use enough force to keep her out of the village and drive her far from her home if she persisted.

Gana forced herself to look away and tried to stand. Time and time again as she tried to shift her weight to her arms and legs, she found herself collapsing to the ground. The first time she tried to stand she broke out in a sweat and threw up. The second time, her legs gave out from under her before she made it to her knees. Eventually she just started to crawl away. She could feel the bones in her arms slowly knitting back together faster than those in her legs, and she had to get away. She had betrayed her people, and to repay her, they had betrayed her. They had damn near killed her, beaten her bloody and left her to the cover of snow, with no one to share their power of life with and no tribe to connect and share ancestry with. No more ancestors. She was without home and family and past. The yetis were her enemy. Perhaps they wouldn't outright kill her, but they would not help her, and they would drive her out from wherever she tried to make home. There was no where safe to go, and the things that were once her enemy, well, they would still kill her on sight. She was alone.

Laughter bubbled from her lips; tugging at her stitches and causing pain explode from her mouth. She pulled herself up and rested against an ice cliff. Blood dribbled down her skin and each drop gathered at the tip of her chin before falling onto her armor like frozen blue pearls. Gana lifted up her mask and hood to cover her face. Tears had gathered at the edge of her eyes, but they were happy tears, they had to be. She was laughing wasn't she? She had become as bad as Pyry, wasting breath on such harsh laughter. Too much air wasted, she needed to leave. This was no longer her home. She no longer had a tribe. In truth, since she had been cast out of the tribe and renounced as a member (because what else could the cuts on her hands and the absence of the ancestors grace and power in her heart be), she no longer even had a name. She could still call herself Gana. But what was the point?

She needed to go down the mountain, away from those who used to be her people. Gana could no longer force her presence on them. Plus, she couldn't lie down and die, so instead she would gather as much will as she could and force her aching legs to carry her downward toward the enemy and scorching heat. Gana would survive as long as she could by herself. She wouldn't last long, the internal damage inflicted by the beating was bad and wouldn't heal itself fast enough to save her. Perhaps a night curled with her parents or with Pyry under the moon would have healed her well enough that she could survive to the next day, but on her own…

But she had to try to live. The elders had chosen not killed her. That meant they left Gana to live, at least for as long as she could. Not as part of their tribe, never again as one of them, but they left her life to fate. If she survived her wounds, her tribe would not track her down and kill her, and Gana could not take her own life. This was her punishment, to live as long as fate saw fit alone without friend, tribe, or meaning. To live with her guilt and the knowledge that she was a cowardly traitor not even worthy of death.

By some trick of fate, Gana found her necklace under all the soot and ashes from the fire she had built. Her useless prayers may have done nothing, but the necklace, it lay in the black charred remains of branches untouched by the heat. Perfect, it was still perfect. Gana pushed the soot off of it to reveal the glittering stones, and then reverently hooked it around her neck with aching hands. The moon ice gave her power. It gave her meaning, and without conscious thought, the small yeti was standing and moving, her steps fast as if she was gliding on ice. She could make it. If she lived through another night, then maybe the moon's cold rays would be enough to help fix her enough to survive.

The day was both short and long. Time and consciousness slipped through her fingers and jumped in length and clarity through Gana's mind. Yet her feet kept her moving down the mountain step by step, sped up by the slopes of sliding ice where she could give her legs a rest. When Gana got far enough down, she was able to find a tree branch to use as a walking stick. It didn't seem to help much as she began to walk again, her body still screamed in pain as it shifted to a new position and tried to collapse on every step or minute pause. Still, Gana pressed on, careful that the armor she still wore covered her body. For once her size was an asset to her. If she came across an enemy, she was likely to be mistaken for one of them.

Still, her hands were visible, and the cloth around it was deep blue from her blood. Maybe if she kept her distance from the enemy, she could find some safe place to tend to her wounds and try to recover. She would be safe. Well, as safe as she could be in the dangerous Himalayas.

Soon the sun began to set, but the heat that had been creeping into her bones did not abate as she had thought it would. Gana had thought the heat was due to heading down the mountain in summer, but what if she had started to develop a fever? A fever could be as deadly to a yeti as a fatal wound through the brain. Gana began to send a prayer to the moon but stopped. Who would the moon turn her prayers to? She no longer had any ancestors. She had no connection to past warriors to call on to lend strength and knowledge. All she had was the snow and cold, and even the cold had begun to abandon her.

Gana's knees gave out, and the small yeti sank to the ground. Her vision had been swimming all day, but now it came in and out in waves of light and darkness that made everything the color of green grass and pink/purple hair. she dug her hands into the snow underneath her to draw in strength even as she felt the fever overtaking her body and nausea cling at her throat.

The boy, the enemy she had been destined to kill now stood before her. His image swam as a mirage in her hallucination, a beacon of her death. Because the moment her blade had frozen at his neck, she had been dead. It was fitting then that he be the one to metaphorically finish her off. Gana looked up at him, and then the sky, a scattering of stars filling her sight.

"Yeti!" she hardly paid any attention to the phantom, though why her hallucination was so chatty was a bit weird. Why would she let a hallucination waste breath like that? Then again, count on the enemy to even steal the air from a dying yeti. Slowly Gana's vision went fuzzy, and her eyes became heavy. The enemy began to kneel in front of her and reach out as if to strangle her. Gana was so tired. There was nothing left for her in this life. The small yeti breathed in what could be her last few breaths, and then she allowed the darkness to drift her toward the stars and to death.

As such, it was a surprise to wake up the next morning to sun sinking hot rays against her eyelids. Gana scrunched up her nose and turned away and into the snow beneath her. After a moment of trying to ignore her still sore body and fall back asleep, she finally gave up and sat up to look around her. With a sigh she massaged her forehead. Well, the moon had kept her alive to survive another day. Her body still ached, but blood no longer fell from her mouth or hands. Then again, if she had still been bleeding, she would have either bled out or choked on her blood during the night.

Someone groaned beside her. Instantly Gana was up on her feet, falling instinctively into a fighting stance as she turned to face whoever it was. It couldn't be a tribesman, and there weren't any creatures or tribes friendly with the one she had been cast out of, except, perhaps, a mountain giant. She had no allies. All she had were enemies.

The boy from the day before pushed himself up, groaning and rubbing his eyes and yawning widely. Gana looked at him in shock. She had thought he was a hallucination. Instead, it appeared he was real, which meant she was even more confused as to why she alive.

"Are you going to try and kill me again?" asked the boy. His voice was deep even if his actions the day, or days, before had been cowardly. It took her a second to remember to respond to his question. She quickly shook her head and stood straight, her fingers still itched to create an ice weapon, but she resisted. He grunted and wiggled out of his sleeping bag. He made an odd noise; his lips moving rapidly as he quickly rubbed his hands against his arms and started to roll his pack. Every once in a while he would throw Gana a subtle glance. Gana watched him openly. "Are you from the tribe that lives on top of the mountain?"

Gana immediately nodded and then stopped, remembering that she that no, she wasn't from her tribe anymore. The boy snorted, drawing her attention again.

"That's what the people in Rito village assumed," said the boy as he threw his pack on his back, wincing as a little as it hit his stick. He immediately started readjusting so he would have easier access to his stick if need be. Gana watched him in fascination. He appeared to be completely incompetent. She didn't understand how he survived so long, but perhaps she just caught him at a very bad time. He glanced her way. "I've never seen a yeti as small as you."

So he had fought with yetis. Now she really felt like a traitor by not taking his life. She could remedy that here. The boy obviously wasn't a skilled fighter. She could drive an ice dagger across his throat before he even had a chance to properly grip his weapon.

"Well, you seem to be doing much better than last night, and you're not trying to kill me, so I say I made the right call," said the enemy. Didn't he know he was wasting his breath by stating such an obvious fact? "I'm going to head back to my village now. Not that I have anything to show for my efforts out all weekend, but they should understand. The regular hunting group probably brought in plenty of meat anyway."

That caught Gana's attention. She watched for a second as the boy started to head back down the mountain, probably toward his village. One part called for her to spill his blood across the snow, but another remembered there was another tradition. Without his care, and the sharing of his life force, Gana would be dead. She was sure of it. But since he had slept besides her and shown some care in her wellbeing, he had saved her. If he was still her enemy it would mean a promise not to kill him during battle, but she was homeless and disgraced. His saving her meant her life was now his. He could ask her to do anything, and she would have to comply.

Still, Gana wasn't sure if that tradition held any weight. Traitors, and the rules associated to yetis who had been cast from the tribe wasn't something often talking about in training. No one was supposed to remember those thrown from the tribe. They didn't exist and thus there were no rules for yetis that didn't exist. On the other hand, yetis had a very strict code of honor, so there had to be rules for those that found themselves thrown from the tribe. Gana just didn't know what they were.

So Gana followed the boy as he headed down the mountain. At first he didn't seem to notice, too caught up in his own thoughts presumably. When he did realize she was following him, he became very jumpy and extra chatty and eventually made it clear by the way he kept stopping to let Gana catch up to him that he wanted her to walk next to him if she was going to accompany him. Gana found his jumpiness funny, even if it made sense that he didn't want her walking behind him. For all he knew, Gana was tricking him into a false sense of security before she attacked. The effort to do this seemed a waste to Gana, but the enemy probably thought in weird ways and her master had always emphasized how tricky and cowardly the enemies' battle tactics were, so she eventually started walking beside him.

But she couldn't ask the boy anything. She could feel the hardened blood on her tongue as she touched the sensitive skin of her inner lips with her tongue. Gana wondered if it would be best to cut the cords binding her mouth but quickly decided against it. The elders had sewed her mouth shut for a reason, and even if she couldn't kill this boy on a technicality, the least she could do was uphold their punishment. It wasn't like she talked much anyway. Talking had always been more of Pyry's thing.

Gana paused. Was she supposed to think about her past? Then again, she could hardly control all of her thoughts, and all she had known about the world had revolved around killing and her tribe. They could banish her and ceremoniously pretend she never existed, but Gana could hardly strip her memories. Especially since all her memories were connected to her lost tribe in one way or another.

Finally the boy seemed to be overcome by his curiosity and asked Gana some general and meaningless questions about her life. Since she couldn't answer him, she didn't pay much attention to what he was actually asking. She was pretty sure he gave up fairly quickly and went back to talking about nothing and wasting breath.

"Oh, by the way, I'm Karuna," he said about an hour into their walk. Gana now had a name to call him by instead of boy or enemy. "Um, no offense, but why are you following me?"

He paused, looking back at her. Gana was tempted to pull down her face mask and show him her stitches, but she was a little hesitant. She was pretty sure that her mask was glued to her mouth with her own blood and she was already in enough pain without trying to rip her stitches open again. It didn't matter anyway; Karuna didn't wait long before he started talking again.

"I mean, I was looking for you. Not sure why, I mean, I think it was the whole ambush and then run away thing that really got me interested. Which, the guys at Rito village said it was probably you going through some trial thing. Apparently you guys come down at a certain age and… but they're not sure. Usually when that happens someone ends up dead instead of just traumatized. I just remembered being attacked, and I mean, you have amazing strength, more than you should. Like you're a little devil or something," Karuna chattered away. They were now walking next to ten foot tall stone wall that was gradually became shorter and shorter the further they walked along it.

Gana sent a sideways glare Karuna's way. She was not a little devil. She was only a little shorter than him and was a yeti. Calling her anything but a yeti was an insult. Her heart clenched then as reality set in. What did it matter what she actually was? In the eyes of her people, she was nothing, a disgrace. Better to be a little demon then a yeti without a tribe. At least demons were known for their treachery and cowardice, and she wouldn't be tricking any yetis into trusting her, though the marks her tribe had left probably told any yeti she encountered that she was a traitor anyway.

"Really I don't know what I was thinking. Oh, here's our spot." Karuna kept wasting more and more air on what seemed now like nervous babbling. Gana wanted to knock him upside the head for being so careless, but she was sure that someone in her position wasn't supposed to do anything of the sort toward the person who had helped her. No matter how much like a ninny he was acting. Karuna climbed between the rocks where the wall had toppled. Gana was tempted to jump the wall which was just below her shoulder at this point to show how pathetic the thing was. This wall would do absolutely nothing to stop her people if they decided to attack this side of the mountain. It wouldn't even slow them down.

Karuna didn't walk through any villages thankfully; Gana was still trying to figure out how to explain to him that her life was now his to do with as he choose before he got to his village. He had long since moved on from wondering why she was trailing around behind him. Now he appeared to be talking about yaks and sheep. Gana just shook her head and tried to figure out the best signs to tell him what had happened.

"Here we are," Karuna said, stopping suddenly. Gana looked up from where she had been studying the ground to see a fairly large village. There were buildings everywhere. In the old days, the enemy had lived in tents. Now their homes were made of stone and stacked one on top of each other. Some of the houses on the side she could see were smaller and thatched with wood, but most were taller than the dome of her village where her people would walk to receive power from the ancestors.

"So, anyway." Gana glanced over to where Karuna was now standing, his expression crunched together as he shifted from foot to foot. "I mean, this has been great, and I feel like a tool doing this, because when I met you last night you'd obviously gotten into some serious fight, because I didn't make you pass out like that. I mean, I don't think I even bruised you when we fought. But, you understand right? I can't take you into my village. You're from the yetis on top of the mountain. I mean, you didn't kill me, but…"

Gana took a step away from Karuna. Of course she understood. Was he going to kill her? She wouldn't be able to stop him through her own code if that's what he chose to do. And killing her would be his best option considering the situation he found himself in and what he seemed to understand. To him, she was still the enemy. To leave an enemy alive was disgraceful. Gana gave up any thought of trying to explain through sign. It wouldn't be worth the trouble.

"If you can't go home, because I mean, why else would you follow me around?" Karuna continued to prattle and Gana wished he'd just kill her and be done with it. "So, anyway, if you head back toward your right and then take the fork. A little higher up there's another tribe of yetis. I'm sure they'll be happy to take you in. Tell them Karuna sent you. Wait a minute. Here." Karuna dug into his pack and then gave her a little gold circle. "They'll know what that is, I think."

Gana stared at him for a second and then looked down at the little gold disk now in the palm of her hands. The little gold disk was warm in her hands. It was like a little sun; it even caught light and threw little blinding rays into her eyes. But under it, under that little gift from the boy that had saved her life met her blue skin, were her scars. The cross of blue lines that had knitted itself back together during the night, but the scars still remained. Gana stared at them. Bonebreaker had made them, and even healed, there was a tinge of pain that flooded her body whenever she flexed her hands. Even the little disk's weight pressing on the wounds was sending tiny fractures of warnings to her brain.

Slowly she closed her hand, bending her head and trying to keep her mouth loose so she wouldn't cause herself more pain by pulling at her stitches. Not that it seemed to matter. She might have healed enough to save her from death, but her entire body still ached from the beating, many of her ribs still cracked and her bones slowly mending back together.

When Gana finally opened her eyes, Karuna was nowhere insight. Gana was alone again, left to her own devises when it would have been kinder to kill her.


	3. A Gift to the Enemy

Chapter Three

A Gift to the Enemy

Gana did not go to the yeti village Karuna had directed her toward. Karuna obviously didn't understand how yetis thought and lived. The yetis Karuna had tried to send her to join were a rival tribe. Even though Gana had been cast from her own tribe did not mean other tribes were now her friend. In some ways they were more likely to view her worse than her lost tribe. The rival tribe would probably kill her on sight or torture her for information before killing her. So no, Gana wouldn't go and ask the rival tribe to take her in. Committing that sort of suicide was not only cowardly, but could endear her lost tribe. Plus, even if they did take her in, joining a rival tribe was dishonorable, and Gana had been dishonorable enough for one lifetime.

Even if her life hadn't belonged to Karuna, the small yeti didn't deserve to be a part of a tribe. So, Karuna could tell Gana to do anything he wanted, except to claim they were even and give Gana a little golden disk to show her support. Gana's life was still his. Until she somehow repaid that debt, or Gana died defending him. So, Gana did not go to the rival tribe to die. Instead she fashioned herself a spear and cleared a nearby cave of its inhabitants. The bear meat and pelts served her well over the next week or so, and in that time Gaba and began to acquaint and make herself comfortable with the landscape around the enemy village. Most of the meat the small yeti froze and placed near the back of her cave where she felt it was safe to assume it wouldn't melt and spoil while she was out. But just to be safe, Gana set some to the side. That portion of meat she cut into strips and set it out to dry under the summer sun. When the meat had dried to what Gana thought was appropriate, she brought the jerky in and destroyed the tools she used dry the meat so the enemy wouldn't find it and start looking for her before she wanted to be known.

Finally Gana had time to sit and reflect and figure out how to approach Karuna again and get in his good favor. The small yeti had to wonder how Karuna and her had made it down the mountain so quickly. Sure, when they had reached Karuna's village it had been close to dusk, but Gana hadn't realized how far past the snow line Karuna had led them, but there were hints it was further than most yetis in her tribe had ever gone even on the otherside. Gana constantly felt overheated these last few days, and while a nice cold breeze picked up in the afternoon, most of the day the small yeti felt as if she was about to melt. If Karuna had lived any further down the mountain, Gana was sure she wouldn't have been able to stay close to him.

Gana finished binding a sharpened rock to the end of the sturdy looking branch she'd whittled so she could have a serviceable spear. The first one having already broken, Gana inspected the hastily made weapon. Like the meat, the spear wasn't anything special, but could have turned out worst. Gana tested balance and nodded to herself. She felt she'd done the best she could with the supplies she had.

When Gana had finally settled down again and replayed in her mind what Karuna told her. It was hard to recall it all. For one thing, he'd never stopped talking and Gana had turned him out. For another, it felt like a lifetime since she'd been cast from her tribe and saved by the enemy. But Gana figured that in some small ways, she could help him. The boy had said something about not being able to get any meat during his hunting trip. Hunting animals for his village might have been his trial, since it seemed foolish to go out hunting on one's own especially since Karuna was so weak. Meeting Gana had been bad luck on Karuna's part as well as hers. Getting attacked by the small yeti meant that Karuna hadn't been able to bring back any food or provisions for his village. Gana would make up for that. While she couldn't part with her bear meat, she could go hunting for yak meat. Yak meat was much tastier than bear meat, and it was a delicacy that Gana herself usually only got during big celebrations. The small yeti had done a little scouting around their village and seen that while Karuna's village did have a small herd of sheep and goats, but for no yaks herds.

Unfortunately Gana hadn't gotten close enough to listen to any of the villagers conversations to try and find out why the villagers didn't have a herd. Yaks were in abundance on the mountain. There used to be plenty of wild ones that Gana's tribe hunted annually and there were even some now. They had been thinking of domesticating a herd of their own, since the tribe got the meat so rarely. The yaks had become scarce as the enemy pushed in and started penning up the wild yaks and domesticating them. When the traitor yeti tribes made a pack with the invading humans, wild yak became almost extinct. Gana's old tribe couldn't kill every yak they found either since they needed the yaks to mate and the population to hopefully increase in the coming years, but it seemed fruitless when the enemy or rival tribe would invade and either kill or steal those yaks.

Gana shook her head to chase away those thoughts. What did she care anymore about conserving yaks to help her old tribe? Her tribesmen could became extinct for all she cared. Gana felt her body physically freeze and mentally burn at the thought. That was a horrible. She didn't wish ill on her past tribesmen, it wasn't their fault she had turned out to be a coward and a traitor. They had done everything to raise Gana as a working part of their tribe. Gana parents had recruited the best past warriors to train their diminutive daughter, and her trainers had sent her on hunting missions where she fought wild cats and boars and taught her to be a working part of the community despite her size. They had done everything to shape Gana into a respectable clan member. Gana was the one who failed her trial.

As punishment, they had spared her life.

Her old tribe had thrown her out into the world to spend the rest of her life alone. Yetis weren't meant to be on their own. Yes, they drew power from snow and cold. But most knowledge and true power came from the ancestors and from being close to the tribe. Yetis' healing came from sharing life and love. A yeti without tribesmen around her was nothing and bound to fall into madness eventually. It was a fact. Some of the more cynical yetis Gana hand around claimed the point of young yetis leaving their village for a week was to give them a taste of what being alone was really like. Gana could tell them it couldn't be, being away from the tribe was cut off from the ancestors and love that even space couldn't take away from a yeti with a tribe.

Gana pushed the thought out of her mind. Karuna was the person she needed to protect now. Even if he didn't want her protection: especially since he didn't want her to help him generally. Over the last few days, while whittling and settling into her new home, Gana decided Karuna was an idiot. Even though the boy obviously had not been trained well in combat. Karuna had gone out on his own from the confines of his village without any weapons not once but a few times, and Gana wasn't counting when he worked in the field. It seemed the enemy had neglected to teach Karuna common survival skills, which should have been obvious to Gana from the beginning since Karuna tracked her down after she had attacked him.

Since Karuna lacked common sense, Gana was never leaving Karuna alone ever again. Instead the small yeti kept her eyes and other senses open almost constantly for any sign of Karuna leaving the city. Gana's system wasn't perfect. She'd need to devise away to listen in on the villagers and keep up with Karuna's movements without alarming them. The enemy village was even bigger than she first suspected. While the three story buildings were all packed tightly together, the village had terraces setup for farming that spanned at least a mile down the mountain. Gana would have thought the village was too high to up the mountain for anything to grow, but Gana had never learned much about farming. It was an enemy thing. The only thing she knew about it was its name, what it looked like, and that on a raid she should freeze and destroy the plants.

The weather certainly was hot enough to grow stuff, despite the high altitude. It was easier to breathe so far down the mountain.

So, the small yeti would keep her eyes and ears peeled for trouble, and she'd protect Karuna's farming village. If Karuna left its safety and went beyond the village walls, Gana would follow him. Maybe he just didn't want Gana in his village, but would let her openly follow him out on the roads. Gana could protect him better if she wasn't trying to be sneaky and keep out of his line of sight. Plus, as long as Karuna didn't describe her armor in detail, she could pass herself off as an enemy. While Gana was a little taller than Karuna, her armor was bulky enough that she could be mistaken for a male of his kind since enemy females were oddly small next to the male enemy counterparts.

Gana kept low to the ground as she hunted. The spear in her hand helped her settle her nerves as she crept across a relatively flat part of the mountain that was covered in tall grass. The small yeti smiled as she felt the cool air through her face mask. She'd been able to steal some tinted goggles from the trash. Gana didn't have to look through a slit of cloth to see where she was going anymore, and she was able to stay cooler since the cool air her body created was kept trapped where the goggles were. The grass crunched under her feet, and she debated walking differently, letting her steps become so light that Gana could sneak up on her prey easier. But yaks weren't that aware of their surroundings anyway.

The small yeti found a pond as she was tracking and was tempted to stop and wash her clothes. Her clothes had started to feel disgusting against her skin and smell, and the cold water would help wake her up and put some pep in her step, but in the end, Gana continued on her way. She could bathe another day. It was bad enough she was gone all day without knowing if Karuna planned on leaving the safety of his village, but she shouldn't be away from the village during for very long. It was already late in the afternoon.

Instead Gana only stopped for a quick drink of water, and filled a flask she had stolen from the enemy, so she didn't have to waste power pulling water from the air every time she wanted a drink. The water turned to ice in her mouth, and then slipped down her throat. Iced water felt amazing helping to cool down and sent pleasant shivers through her body. But she forced herself not to dally and continue tracking her prey. It wasn't long after the small yeti started finding signs of a pack of yaks. Yaks were one of the easiest beasts to track. They left plenty of mess behind them and the manure wasn't was still warm and soft. They also left deep tracks in the dirt, tended to pull up the grass, and leave traces of fur wherever they went.

Unfortunately the herd Gana was tracking was depressingly small. In truth, her former tribesmen would steal from the enemy when they felt they could get away with it. The enemy yaks tended to be plumper and juicier. In those instances then didn't need a special celebration for they to eat yak meat.

As Gana stalked toward the herd and saw that one yak had separated from the of the herd. The small yeti smiled grimly, breathing in deeply to saturate her lungs with cold air and boost her natural power. Gana adjusted her grip on the spear and started to move forward with deadly purpose. She kept as low to the ground as she could. The yak appeared to tense and pause in it chewing as if it sensed Gana coming for it. Then the beast snorted, shaking its head and eating. Gana took that moment to attack. She dug her spear as deeply as she could into the yak's side and crashed her weight and body into the attack. The beast bucked and cried, but she held on without losing her grip. Distantly Gana could hear the rest of the herd stampede away, but Gana's concentration would not be broken.

Her ribs were jarred once as the beast tried to roll over. Gana pushed away the pain and pushed the spear deeper into the yaks body, delivering the death blow.

The beast crashed to the ground. It wasn't quite dead, but it was only time before death claimed it. The yaks' chest rose and fell harshly as it tried to cling to life even as blood pumped out and its eyes slowly became closesly. Gana removed her spear from the beast and then finished the creature off.

Gana looked over her kill, a sense of accomplishment ran through her body. She felt a smile pull at her stitches. She leaned over grabbed the carcass, and started to drag it back toward Karuna's village. Gana briefly contemplated keeping the yak for herself. Prepared correctly, yak meat really was very succulent. The cook of their tribe used to heat the meat up just a little bit before freezing it. The smoky taste was surprisingly good if a bit foreign, but Gana pushed the idea out of her mind. She had killed the yak for Karuna, to help him get back into good graces with his tribe.

The sun had only just begun to set when Gana reached the gates to Karuna's village. Two enemy warriors with sticks strapped to their backs started to walk towards her when she started to get close. The small yeti figured Karuna had told his people what her armor looked like, and it was better to play it on the safe side then be killed by those she was now trying to protect. Even though the warriors didn't look that strong, all of the enemy looked small to her compared to yetis she was used to seeing and there was plenty of proof they had killed her kind despite their size. Gana stopped, the warriors' posture relaxed, but they kept walking forward. So, the small yeti threw the yak at them. The warrior removed their sticks and started to aim at Gana, but the small yeti had already turned on her heels and was running away. It wasn't that hard to figure out the yak was a gift. Karuna would vouch for her, and only an idiot would waste yak meat, so it wasn't like her gift would go to waste.

The sky was darkening by then, and Gana changed direction and headed out for the pond. Karuna was an idiot, but he was still alive, so the small yeti was sure he wouldn't leave his village at night.

By the time Gana got to the pond, night had truly fallen. Gana lifted her head toward the sky briefly to let the rays of moon encase her before she stripped down to her under armor. Once disrobed, she carefully cleaned the grit and blood from her armor, and then reinforced the ice on the armor using waster from the pond and a boost of power from the moon. Quite a bit of the ice had melted away in the last few days, and she hadn't been able to find the will to fix or stop the melting.

Unfortunately Gana's control over her element had been diminished since being thrown from the tribe. Her most useful asset, the ability to form shields and dagger during battle had been severely limited. It had been hard to make the icebox for the bear meat the other day over a period of time under serene circumstances. Before Gana had made ice shields and frozen animals with hardly a thought. Thankfully her power in general, under the cold light of the moon, she was able to reinforce the ice on her armor with little trouble with water from the pond.

The small yeti leaned back when she was done with her task to bask in the moonlight. It felt like forever since she had time to bathe in the light of the moon. A chill ran through Gana's body as the moonlight sunk into her. The very air seemed to be creeping into her bones and lifting her spirit toward the moon. She let the white rays play over her shoulders, she even freed her hair so that it fell down her back. The light playing and teasing the colors.

After the moon had traveled some ways across the sky, Gana returned to cleaning and scrubbed her face mask as well as she could. The blue blood seemed to have stained the mask for the most part, so she gave up getting the stains out and just hoped her washing made it was clean enough. Once Gana was done, she slipped into the pond, ripples spreading out as she submerged herself. Gana surfaced a few second later further in the pond, and took a deep breath. The water around Gana froze and turned into ice crystals around her body. The cold water was doing her wonders. She felt like she could freeze the entire world as she then lazily swam through the increasingly cooler pond.

Gana smiled and let her body drift on the top of the water. She watched her hair spread out on the surface of the water, swishing and undulating as she lazily moved her arms across the ice. The hair reflecting the moon light was all white, the colorful underside hidden by the darkness of the bottom of the pond. Gana laughed, her stitches pulling as her lips tried to part. She then curled into a ball and let her body dip to the bottom of the pool of water, frozen flakes of ice chipping off her body and floating to the surface as she submerged herself deeper and deeper. Gana turned and stretched out her legs, her feet sinking deep into the mud, the thick top layer of muck squelching between her toes and freezing to her ankle.

The stitches on her mouth still hurt to touch, and Gana was honestly surprised that the area hadn't become infected. Getting meat past them had been difficult, and every time she chewed, her own blood would drip down her face and mix with the meat. Now Gana carefully rubbed between the stitches, using her finger and the water to encourage some of her natural healing energies to that area, hoping it was enough to get rid of any infections that had been building. There had been a time when Gana contemplated cutting the leather thread and unlacing her mouth. The process of pulling the thread back out would have been painful to, but no more than it had been to receive them in the first place.

But no. Her tribesmen former tribesmen had stitched her mouth closed for a reason. Maybe it would be easier to survive if her mouth wasn't stitched closed; but the small yeti had already disgraced her people, she would not make it worse by going against tradition. Gana knew there had to be a reason that they hadn't killed her. Maybe it was because she was small, and a small yeti was a sign from the ancestors. When a small yeti born, it prophesized that big events and changes were fated in the future. Maybe the tribe thought that killing her would have been disrespectful towards their ancestors.

That didn't matter anymore Gana reminded herself. She wasn't part of the tribe. They were no longer her family and she had no ancestors. According to tradition, since she had been thrown from the tribe, Gana was to think of herself as never having ancestors or tribesmen. It was hard to swallow, but she had to accept her punishment. The life as a yeti, in a cave, living on her own was her reality now, and she was Karuna's held her life in his hand. She had to protect the boy, which meant she had to keep trying to fit meat slices between her stitches and keep herself alive. It was time to stop being depressed. Gana needed concentrate on adjusting to her new life: to living in the heat with stitches in her mouth and no one to love and call family.

She had no tribe. She only had an enemy (or whatever he was) and he didn't even really like her.

When Gana finally forced herself out of the water, she was chilled to the bone. Best of all, her clothes were almost completely frozen. Gana shivered in pleasure. She loved the feeling of clothes right after they were washed. It could almost be overwhelmingly cold in the right circumstances.

Little pleasures. She could still find the little pleasures in life.

-A-B-B-Y-B-O-M-I-N-A-B-L-E

The next day Gana woke up content and feeling reenergized. She stretched her arms with a pop while trying to hold back a yawn. As a moment later, a cry split the air and Gana flinched and stood, making sure to adjust her mask so that no enemies could see her skin. She hoped nothing bad had happened. Maybe the villagers were just thankful for the yak and were trying to call her to join their tribe. But Gana decided it was better to play it safe and stay out of sight completely for the time being. Another yell split the air, and Gana grabbed her spear and kept her head hidden in the shrubbery as she snuck out of the cave. The cave was a little elevated from the village, though the tree and brushes hid it from sight.

It turned out to be a good thing Gana had kept hidden. Even from a distance, Gana could sense the tense movement and alarm in the enemies' formation as their warriors scoured the land. Gana was about to leave her cave when she heard the telltale voice of sentries. Probably some enemies from the village. The footsteps were too soft for yetis, but too clumsy for an animals. Gana felt herself sigh in relief. She did not believe that she could fight her own people. It wouldn't be possible, not even if it was for Karuna and honorable for her to do so. No, she had shied from killing Karuna who was the enemy. How would she ever be able to kill a fellow yeti? Then again, what would it say about her if she _was_ able to kill another yeti?

No, that had to be impossible.

"Where did he go?" asked a voice close to her cave. Gana held her breath. The enemy was a good yard from the cave, if he actually used his eyes, he would find it. Thankfully, he seemed more interested in talking to his companion then doing her job. Plus, the enemy was notoriously bad at seeing in the dark, and the sun had just started to rise the sky as a yellow orange mist.

"He just headed into the hills after throwing the yak," said the second enemy, his voice almost cracking. Gana tried to see him more closely but remain hidden from sight. The second enemy sort of looked like one of the guards from the night before.

"Are you sure it's the yeti Karuna has been talking about?" asked the first enemy.

"He was no bigger than a man, yet he was able to throw an entire yak," said the second enemy. "If Karuna is right, this is a yeti from the top of the mountain. They're not known for their ability to negotiate or show basic empathy and humanity. I'm surprised the boy didn't end up dead."

"We'll find the yeti and hand him over to Abominable's tribe. He'll know how to deal with it," said the first enemy. Gana decided she'd heard enough and slunk back into her cave. So the rival yeti tribe had some sort of truce worked out with the enemy. They really were traitors. Though, that would be hypocritical of Gana to point out. Gana was planning on protecting the enemy herself. That, and the enemy still didn't trust her. Somehow the gift Gana had given them only antagonized them.

The enemy moved on, presumably searching for her. Gana snuck out of her cave. She needed to put some distance between herself and the village for a little while. She would also have to wait to return until everything died down, and she was able to effectively kept tabs on Karuna. Hopefully he wouldn't kill himself while she was gone.

It turned out that almost all the male enemies from the village were looking for her. Gana put her ability to hide and blend into her environment to the test. It was hard, Gana had trained to blend in with snow and ice, not grass and flowers. The small yeti found herself by the pond again, and then instantly had to hide as she saw yetis combing the area. Not the yetis from her tribe, but ones that she assumed were from Abominable's tribe. She ended up climbing up a small terrace, heading for the thick brush.

"You." Gana's heart jumped into her throat. She turned to see Karuna standing behind her. Tension fled her body quickly, and she almost laughed. It would figure that he would find her when no one else could. "Abominable said that you hadn't gone to him. Are you here to change that? What was with the yak last night? Did Abominable lie to us?"

Gana reached to grab Karuna and stop him from wasting more breath. The silly boy was talking so much that even if she could talk, he was leaving no space between his words for her to answer him.

Amazingly, Karuna actually stopped talking when she touched him. Gana tried to think of the best way to tell him what was going on. So, with the few signs she had, she tried to explain to Karuna that she had gone hunting to replace the meat he had supposed to have gotten and she was pretty sure his tribesmen had misinterpreted her intentions.

"What? I thought yetis spoke Yetish," said Karuna in confusion. Gana let her hands fall to her side. How was she supposed to explain things to Karuna if she couldn't speak? She rolled on the balls of her feet. Suddenly Karuna grabbed her in a hug, and she had to consciously stop herself from throwing him off her. He was fragile. Gana was lucky she hadn't broken him when she had attacked him that first day. Though, her life would have been simpler if Karuna's neck had just snapped by mistake.

"Alright, so you're mute, and I'm an insensitive jerk. Who's hugging another guy," Karuna instantly removed his hands, and skipped backward. "Sorry, my best friend is a girl."

Gana had no idea what that meant, so she just crossed her arms and took a step away from him to help make herself more comfortable.

"Okay, first question. Are you part of Abominable's tribe now?" he asked. Gana shook her head and made a cutting motion across her neck.

"You're afraid they'll kill you?" he asked. Gana nodded. "Ok, I guess that makes sense. Your tribes have different, ah, philosophies. I think. Are you still part of your tribe? I mean, you're kind of far from it, and you're not killing me on sight. Unless you're here as some sort of ambassador."

Gana shook her head. Hadn't she already answered these questions when they walked to Karuna's village? Karuna smiled and hit her on the shoulder. "Great, well, I mean... You're not an ambassador right? Great, I mean, I'm sorry about your tribe, but I think it'll make my village feel better if you're no longer associated with that tribe." Gana wasn't sure. Would his village believe that she had been thrown out of her tribe just on Karuna's word? It seemed farfetched, especially if he didn't have proof. Gana pushed her hands into the sleeves of her armor. She could probably prove that she wasn't lying by showing the crosses on her hands or the stitches closing her mouth, but that would also prove what a coward she was.

"Alright, was the yak…" Karuna seemed to search around for a yes or no question. "Was it meant to be a thank you?"

Gana shook her head. Karuna bit his lip and his brow furrowed in thought. "Wait yeti culture, I saved you, so does that mean that I own you?" he asked.

Gana nodded. Karuna tesned and the shook his head. "I can't. No. Listen, I saved you by accident, and I'm human. This would be complicated enough if you were from Abominable's tribe, but you're from the tribe that periodically attacked on the other side of the mountain. You can't hang around my village. Go to Abominable's. Listen, they're right over there. I can introduce you right now."

Gana shook her head. Karuna's expression hardened. "Come on. I'm sure he'll understand. I mean, you got in trouble 'cause of me, right?"

There was a moment of awkward silence as Karuna made a point to wait for Gana's answer. Gana finally nodded. What he claimed was close to the truth, and she didn't know how to explain her situation without using sign language. For a moment, Gana wondered if she should be following his orders and give herself to Abominable and instead of arguing over with the enemy, or as he called himself, human that saved her life. Then she dismissed the idea. Karuna had walked without a care into yeti territory. Maybe his village had a deal with the yetis, but the treaty was unnatural. Gana had always known yetis were natural enemies with well the enemy. Karuna shouldn't just walk into their territory. This was all the proof she needed that he couldn't take care of himself. She needed to keep an eye on him then. So she refused to commit suicide and give herself to the Abominable.

Kurana grabbed her arm. "Don't be ridiculous. You can't live out here by yourself. Yetis belong together," the boy said. Gana growled at him and jerked her arm out of hands. What did an enemy know about yetis? "Don't be stubborn."

Gana shook her head. Kurana tighten her grip on her and tried to force her toward the rival tribe. Gana continued to shake her head and held her ground. Then the stupid boy tackled her. Gana caught Karuna and threw him against the ground. He hit the dirt hard, and after a moment of lying there with his mouth gaping and his eyes wide, he started coughing. Gana gasped and took a step away from him in horror. How was he so fragile? Her people had been enemies with his people since the humans had first started to encroach on the yetis' mountains from the lower land. How could the enemy be this fragile and still be alive? Of course, Gana had known they weren't as powerful as her physically. That's why they needed the exploding sticks. But she hadn't realized just how fragile they were.

With a shake of her head to chase away those thoughts, Gana ran forward to help the human up. When Karuna saw her coming for him, he backed away, looking scared. Gana froze. He choked.

"Listen, you need to go. You're only going to hurt our village," Kurana wheezed. Gana took a step away from him. He looked almost guilty for a second, and then his expression hardened. "Leave? I never want to see you again."

Gana followed his order and turned and ran away. She went back up the mountain, and spent the rest of the day hiding out. When night fell, the small yeti walked back toward her cave. Her thoughts chasing each other when the small yeti got there, there was no sign of anyone having touched her meager belongings. Gana curled up in a ball and shook her head. Before this, she could have believed that maybe, just maybe, she had a chance to live with someone even if it was the enemy. Maybe it wouldn't have been ideal, but she didn't want to be alone. Being alone hurt.

This was horrible. Never before had Gana felt so alone. It was like the week where the girls in her tribe that had yet to go through the trials went off to fend for themselves. It was a week that she always looked forward to and dreaded. On one hand, she got to be free of the stifling twenty-four seven presence of the tribe, because while she did love her tribe, after some time they started grating on her nerves. On the other hand, when out on her own, she lost the connection to the spirit of the tribe, and it wasn't long before she was homesick. Being caste from her tribe was ten times worse. At least during that week she knew she would soon return to her tribe and the ancestors to pay to when the loneliness overwhelmed her.

Gana hated being alone. She wanted a cold body, or a warm body in Karuna's case, next to her. As long as it was breathing, she didn't care. A tear trickled down her cheek. It froze against her skin, and she tried to tell herself that it was nothing. She could survive this. She had to survive. She had to find some honor and protect Karuna. Making sure he lived was her only goal and meaning her life.


End file.
